From the blog

… we wanted to be the anti-Rolling Stone …

Wow. One year ago today, kilScene.com went live. That’s right. kilScene.com went live on Father’s Day, June 16th, 2013. It’s crazy how far we’ve gone, and, how much further we have left to go. kilScene.com came into fruition because people like my brother and I felt that our love of music, mainstream or otherwise, was not something that publications like Rolling Stone properly represented. In other words, we wanted to be the anti-Rolling Stone. We wanted to showcase acts that weren’t getting the proper respect that we felt that they deserved.

For as huge as these groups become, they were ours first New York.

kilScene.com is based out of New York; and, as such, we have a thriving local scene that we felt needed to have a spotlight shown upon it. Local groups likeMachine Elves, Charetta, Srotakin IV, She Said Fire, D’NT, Lugosi, Monster BrewandRoy Orbitare just a few of the groups that we feel are on the verge of breaking out on the national stage. You know what? For as huge as these groups become, they were ours first New York.

Along with representing our scene, kilScene.com has also had the great opportunity to meet and interview some of our personal favorites in music, such as Scott LucasofLocal HandJay BentleyofBad Religion. You have to understand something. When kilScene jumped off, I was a complete novice. How does one go about putting in a request for an interview? What is a Public Relations person? Who are they? The first interview request I ever sent was toMUTEMATH’s manager, Mr.Kevin Kookogey, not thinking that he would ever get back to me. He did, and kilScene had its first big name interview with MUTEMATH’s drummer, Mr. Darren King (Check out that interview HERE.) For our Jay Bentley interview, I found Mr. Bentley on Twitter and put in my personal request with him through that social media outlet. Jay said yes. (Check out our interview with Jay right HERE) Local H? Like I said, I was a novice, right? So instead of just making my life easier by checking the contact info from the band’s official website, I scoured the ‘Net for THE person who could help me set this up. That person is Local H’s PR person,Jill Mango. I can’t even imagine what a headache I must have given her leading up to this interview with Scott. “Jill, should I call the venue to see if they’ll allow us to conduct the interview in the backstage area?”, “George, we’ve done this before. Let me handle it.” “Jill, do you have a time for this interview with Scott?” In retrospect, it was all trial and error and I would like to thank her for her unwavering patience with me, so Jill , a very big thank you to you (I’ve gotten better, right?) (You can check out our interview withScott LucasrightHERE!)

Scott Lucas of Local H with George Kokkinos and Taso Theo

All my love, pain, anger, joy, all of it I could easily attribute to their respective bands music for helping guide my way through all of it.

Personally, in regards to Mr. Scott Lucas and Mr. Jay Bentley, I don’t think you truly know what it meant for me to speak with you. These men are in bands whose music has meant so much to me. All my love, pain, anger, joy, all of it I could easily attribute to their respective bands music for helping guide my way through all of it. I’m still flying over the fact that we were lucky enough to score such gargantuan interviews for our little music site.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my most heartfelt thanks to kilScene’s contributors: Joshua Peters, Hunter MacLeod, Mimzy, and Howie Blatz. Your words breathed life into the soundtracks of our lives and your contributions are not to be understated. For some of you, your words genuinely brought tears to my eyes because it was through your words that I was instantly transported to a beautiful time in my life that I had almost forgotten; so for that, I thank you. I look forward to more memories to come rushing back through the words that you have left to write. Honorable mention must be made toLaVell Finersonwhose photographs of the Rough Francisshow from a few months back are just incomparable to anything I have ever seen before. LaVell’s photography during this particular show was more than just a mere true capturing of what was put in front of him; what he caught in front of him were delicate moments of exposed free souls. LaVell’s daughter, Mimzy, is also one of our photographers. You know how they say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? Well, it doesn’t.

Our kilScene family …

Joshua and I circa 1990-something

Joshua Peters

Hunter MacLeod

LaVell Finerson and Mimzy

We are you, you are us, and it’s our love of music that unites us all.

In this next coming year and for all the years to follow, all I can hope for is more. More new music from our local scene, more exclusive interviews with our personal musical heroes, and most importantly, my greatest hope is that kilScene.com reaches the music loving masses like never before. I have said this more than once since we launched the site, but kilScene is nothing without you, our fans. This site was created specifically for you, so as always, your input is not only greatly appreciated, but it’s also beneficial for us to know what you expect from your music site, and let’s not get things twisted, this isYOURmusic site we’re talking about here. We are you, you are us, and it’s our love of music that unites us all. I look forward to what awaits us musically in the near future. We will continue to make beautiful music together.

kilScene’s co-founders George Kokkinos and Taso Theo

I would like to send a personal thank you to my brother,Taso Theofor seeing something in me, and my passion for the art of music, to want to take a gamble on this whole thing. Music has always been a huge part of my life and had it not been for Taso’s encouragement and his belief in what I could do, it’s quite possible that kilScene would not be in existence today. It’s because of this belief that from kilScene’s inception, to months before we ever launched, in just the fleshing out of the site itself, I found this overwhelming joy within me had awakened; and that’s not something that would’ve happened had it not been for my brother’s idea of starting this here website. Taso, my brother, I love you and thank you for awakening this undiluted joy in my life.

Lastly, thank you to all of you out there who follow each and everyone of our posts, who subscribed to our newsletter, LIKE’d our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter! We are appreciative of each and every fan that we have and the kilScene army is an ever growing music loving force and that tells me we’re doing something right. We are forever grateful for your acceptance for what we’ve been doing: fostering a love for music, ALL music whether it’s a Top 40 hit or a hidden gem of an album by an artist who is unknown to you, we’ll be right here as the platform showcasing “the goods“.

kilScene.com

Get to know more about the bands that are trying to make it and reacquaint yourselves with those that already have. Become apart of the community we are trying to create, get involved, experience new acts and feel free to make suggestions. We are here to learn as much as you are. Lets embark on this journey into the unknown depths of music together. It's going to be a wild ride...